Heathcote Ruthven aka Heathcoter: 'Debate would be encouraged in all forms'

In my ideal university there would be an emphasis on foreign cultures - languages, literature, films, politics, history. Apart from giving students a far less nationalistic education, it would give them a cross-disciplinary one. Academics often complain that their departments don't cross-pollinate enough; cultural studies solve this issue by combining the specialist and the general. Debate would be encouraged in all forms: smoke bombs, posters, direct action and other creative endeavours, which would be valued than traditional "language-centric" discourses. Students would teach each other and have a say in who their tutors are, as well as what they are taught.

There would be no tuition fees. Students would control their co-operative cafes and shops within the university. They would also, together with administrative staff, be responsible for the application of resources within their institution. Apart from guarding against overpaid bureaucrats, this would empower and prepare them financially. However to stop students from commodifying education, they would be rewarded not for raising but reducing economic growth. Prizes would be awarded for the most spectacularly unnecessary spendings.

Our word for schools comes from schole, meaning "leisure" – this etymology alone justifies a radical rethink of our university system. You might work to feed yourself, however that is not why you learn. You learn to have something worthwhile to feed. Universities should be everything the marketplace is not.

Jessica switches on her desktop and logs in for her "introduction to Spanish". Four students and the tutor are already online. She enters the virtual classroom, catches up on the goss and then they're off. The next hour rushes by in a whirl of questions, conversation and checking on assignment progress. Jessica's in London, talking with a tutor based in Cheltenham; the other four are dotted around the UK. At the end they are given "homework" to prepare and have immediate access to the lecture notes, as well as podcast of the entire session. Jessica can study when she wants and work it around the day job. If she wants to do a module or even part of one, that's fine.

Welcome to the University in the Community – or the Big University, as David Cameron has dubbed it. This university delivers teaching and learning along the lines that the American educationalist John Dewey advocated back in 1900: that places of learning "shall be made a genuine form of active community life, instead of a place set apart in which to learn lessons".

As a lecturer, I don't doubt that the future's bright and revolves around harnessing technologies. It reduces the staff and student carbon footprint by cutting the need to be physically present and students can use their home patch as a test bed for assignments, which in turn can improve the places they live in.

Jakub Libiszewski: 'The perfect university is in Finland'

Avatar green Photograph: guardian.co.uk

The perfect university? I know where it is. It is to be found in Finland, where I studied for eight months.

Education is commonly thought to be the "crown jewel" in the Finnish welfare state. Students enjoy amazing support from the centralised student union, with subsidised housing and nutritious canteen meals (€2.50 a pop). I didn't pay for my evening language courses, for charging for education is illegal. Libraries were excellent and accessible. I always hear that it is a luxury, that Finland is small and can afford it. But there is more to it. The whole system is geared towards an explicit commitment to progressive education. Unlike LSE or UCL, which are entrenched in corporate rhetoric, the University of Helsinki takes pride in promoting an equal society through education, and aspires to enhance genuine social mobility. I did not read this between the lines: it was printed on a welcome leaflet from the university's rector.

It all works. Students are empowered, the academic community vibrant and diverse. The university is also officially bilingual – Finnish and Swedish, spoken by a minority but with an equal footing in teaching and administration. Undoubtedly, it opens up people to new languages; absolutely everything is also translated into English.

It is worth the state funding. Having an all-the way, quality, comprehensive public education system is beneficial to all of us. When thinking of changing our universities, we must think about our priorities.

EJL McWhitfield aka mcwhit: 'The ideal university teaches students to practise the good life for a sustainable future'

The University of the Good Life would copy Oxbridge's potentially radical and subversive elements, while rejecting its hierarchical and conservative tendencies. While Grayling retains the model of the famous lecturer speaking down to the undergraduate, we would subvert this hierarchy through our teaching methods, living practices, and a rigorous interrogation of power.

Low-consumption university lifestyles would prepare students for a world of dwindling resources. Students would study in three areas: sustainable living (including ecological construction and agriculture and low-resource technologies); the critical understanding of power (including anthropology, political philosophy and a critical philosophy of science, history and economics); and the creative arts. Participation would be free and based on a week-long, non-school-exam-based selection programme intended as a rewarding experience, even for unsuccessful applicants.

Teaching staff would be selected not by their research fame – or rather public profile – but by their commitment to a sustainable, egalitarian and innovative educational model. The supervision system would conceive of teaching and learning as the same process: both students and academics would make contributions to the university and broader community.

While Grayling aims to teach people in the financial elite the skills to propagate a system in which investment banking and venture capitalism are considered the ultimate post-graduate jobs, the ideal university aims to teach students to practise and propagate the good life, horizontally and inter-generationally, for a sustainable egalitarian future.